Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy is organising an international competition aimed at accelerating the commercialisation of biorefinery innovations and the emergence of new biorefineries in the country.
The competition seeks proposals for a new-generation biorefinery to be set up in Finland. It should be a commercial scale installation, which includes new technology that is not yet in commercial use. The refinery can also be a demonstration plant, whose technology or products have significant business potential, MEE says.
The winning project will receive EUR 100,000 in funding. MEE also says it is collecting a financial group comprising public entities to coordinate and assist in the acquisition of public funding for the best three entries.
"This competition represents a novel approach for the public sector to spur investments. We expect this competition to speed up various biorefinery investments in Finland in the coming years", said Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori, who opened the competition on 4 June.
Biorefineries, which refine into materials, chemical products, and energy, have a ‘key role’ in the creation of new bioeconomy business activity, he added.
Proposals will be accepted through 4 December 2014, and the winner will be announced in February 2015. More details can be found here: www.tem.fi/biojalostamokilpailu
